Tag: nutrition

Taking Heart Disease Supplements

Heart diseases remain some of the killer diseases in the world. Studies have revealed that heart diseases are lifestyle related and can be managed through taking supplements. According to innumerable studies, heart disease supplements can help you control heart diseases, cholesterol and high blood pressure. Health supplements are rich in energy and can help you become physically active because they have high energy levels.

One of the leading and researched supplements is omega-3. This product has been scientific research has proved that supplement rich in fatty acids can help maintain a healthy and functioning heart. Although eating a balanced nutrition is good to your health, food cannot help people fix their heart problems. This is because many foods are grown in soils with little minerals. Health supplements with high mineral content can reduce the adverse effects of heart-related complications such as blood pressure, diabetes and heart attack.

Clinical trials have shown that people who take sufficient supplements with minerals and B vitamins have little chances of suffering from heart problems compared to people who have low mineral intakes. Because heart disease supplements have been developed from high mineral and vitamin contents, they can prevent incidences of heart diseases among people, especially the aging population.

You probably wish you could turn back the clock to a mystical past in which you felt younger, stronger, and more vital. Whether you ever actually lived in that past is another story, but the folks responsible for marketing and distributing the growing array of over-the-counter health supplements sure are good at bringing it to life. If you’re considering buying one or more of the products you see on TV, online, or on the shelves at your local health-foods store, take a moment to consider whether these supplements are anything more than hyped-up sugar pills.

Defining Health Supplements

Also known as “dietary supplements,” most of these products come in pill form and are readily available on the shelves of your local supermarket or health food store at a variety of price points. Some, like “B-complex” and “immune booster” pills, are little more than cocktails of everyday vitamins that retail for a few dollars per bottle. Others are more complex, containing a variety of obscure herbal compounds, and are correspondingly more expensive.

In any event, the Food and Drug Administration defines the “dietary ingredients” in these supplements as anything that can be considered a vitamin, mineral, amino acid, or “extract.” As you can imagine, some perform their stated functions better than others.

Regulation and Fact-Checking

Since their active ingredients have the potential to cause serious harm when not taken properly, prescription medications are tightly regulated by the FDA. Not so with health supplements: the companies that market these products are not required to disclose the results of studies that test the efficacy of their constituent compounds. In other words, you’re taking the supplement at your own risk.

What Works, What Doesn’t

Most health supplement ingredients are not actively harmful; more often, it’s merely a question of whether or not they work. A quick rundown of some effective and not-so-effective supplements follows.

Joint health. The two most common joint health compounds are chondroitin and glucosamine, both of which occur naturally in human cartilage. Although initial claims that they actually help rebuild joint cartilage that wears down due to rheumatoid arthritis have been proven false, they do appear to reduce pain and inflammation in sufferers of the disease.

Heart health. These supplements contain everything from Vitamin E, garlic extract, and Omega-3 fish oils to green tea and red yeast rice. Only red yeast rice has been proven to reduce “bad” cholesterol, but that’s only because it mimics an active ingredient in popular prescription medications like Altoprev.

Memory. Most of the supplements that claim to improve cognitive function contain gingko biloba, a naturally-occurring plant extract. It has been conclusively proven to improve the memories of dementia patients and increase blood flow to the brain, but it carries the risk of side effects including bleeding, dizziness, and vomiting.

Even the most effective over-the-counter health supplements, like gingko biloba, have drawbacks that should not be taken lightly. Many more simply don’t do what they claim to. Before buying any non-prescription supplements, do your research, talk to other users, and make an informed decision on your own terms.

Tamera Mulkey is a freelance blogger, who writes about health topics. If you want to make a career in the health industry, Tamera recommends getting a master of science in nursing online.

With everyone being more nutritionally conscious nowadays, we decided to take a look at why more and more people are swapping white refined flour for wholegrain.

White Flour

Everything that we remember as a child from buttery toast to our birthday cakes and muffins have always been made with white flour. In fact as adults when we taste these tastes again it’s just like being kids again. (Unless we had particularly nutritionally enlightened parents!) It’s no wonder that we have an addiction almost to these white flour goods but did you know how damaging these foods are to our delicate systems?

The thing with white / all purpose / enriched flour is that our bodies process it like sugar. Enriched sounds lovely but in reality the flour actually gets completely stripped of all its goodness during this process. Yes white bread and related products taste amazing but the actual flour is created by stripping the most nutritious parts of the wheat berry. In fact this is the only starch left in white flour. Not good!

White flour and digestion

White flour is just no good for your digestion. The starch is digested mega quickly thus causing a spike in insulin production. This then throws your whole body out of balance and can create a whole host of problems. In fact with the constant fluctuation of blood sugar which manifests through eating white flour products you could be potentially setting yourself up for diabetes and weight problems too!

Whole Grain

Whole grain and whole wheat flour is so much better for you than its white counterpart. This is due to the fact that whole wheat flour uses the whole wheat berry. This means that you are intaking all the goodness – the bran, the starch and the germ. When you eat the whole berry, there are no peaks and / or lows in insulin levels and your body stays healthy and balanced. Another great aspect of eating in this way is that you will stay full for longer than you would if you were eating white bread! No more rumbling tummies in the middle of the afternoon!

Whole grain is great for you if you have stomach and digestion difficulties and there are even studies to say that there is a link between whole grain and the prevention of cancer of the colon. When you buy your products always look for the word, “whole”. That way you know that you are getting the best; there are many brown products which don’t use the entire wheat berry and won’t be as good for you as “whole” products.

It might be hard in the first few months to wean your family, especially the youngsters off white bread and white flour products but over time it can be done. A trick is to make a half and half sandwich, half white bread and half whole grain, this will give your kids time to get used to the different taste and texture. It’s worth making the change for the health of both you and your family.

Eating whole grain foods instead of white foods is a great way to ensure your general nutrition levels remain healthy consistently.

Most people believe it is impossible to lose weight while gaining muscle at the same time. This belief is not wrong, but just not clear how it could be possible. For starters, to gain weight one must consume an excess of calories; on the other hand, to lose weight you must reduce the total number of calories you consume. So how is it possible to do both? Read these tips to help you accomplish it;

Do Cardio

Although this is fairly obvious to anyone wanting to lose weight, it is the type and duration that makes the difference. There is standard “slow” cardio, which is done for maybe 45 minutes at a time; and then there is HIIT (high intensity interval training), done for 30 minutes max. The difference with these two types being that the HIIT type expends more calories while limiting protein breakdown, while the slow type may be more geared to a gradual mainly weight loss pattern. So if losing fat and gaining weight are your goals, HIIT seems better suited for you.

Weight training

You must do this if you require your body to take on a new look. Endless cardio won’t reveal your “hidden” body; actually you will look like one of the many skinny-fat guys around. The reason for this is because cardio is an activity that quite often results in both fat and muscle breakdown. So if you really want to change the way you look, strength training must be done to give the body a reason to change.

Nutrition

Nutrition is basically the make or break factor when it comes to achieving this double feat. Every time we eat, hormonal signals are released which dictate if we gain muscle, fat or lose weight. The nutrition plan that seems most geared to the goals in focus here work around cycling carbohydrate and fat intake, while keeping protein levels reasonably high. It appears that the body makes best use of carbohydrates to incorporate in muscle glycogen when taken around the workout; some before and about three times following the workout. During these high-carbohydrates meals, fat should be minimized. It is a good rule of thumb to state that fat and carbohydrates should not be consumed in large quantities together, this is a recipe for weight gain.

Wise Use of Supplements

Many natural thermogenics exist; including green tea extract, ginseng and even the use of Chia seeds. These supplements can give you that small push to increase your metabolism and shift into a recomposition state.

Above all, be realistic; don’t expect to gain large amounts of muscle while simultaneously losing excessive fat, expect to do a little bit of both. After all, no vehicle ever got anywhere with its wheels spinning in the opposite directions.

John has been a personal trainer for over 3 years. He enjoys writing about bodybuilding, supplements, and natural remedies. His favorite website is Remedy Tip.

If you’re feeling a bit drained, perhaps because you’ve been working too hard or have been suffering from a bit of stress lately, then why not give this Energy Boosting health juice a try. Not only will it give you a dose of B12, but it will also fight off any anaemia and improve your calcium levels.

Take the following ingredients:

1 heaped teaspoon of spirulina

100g (3.5 oz) of wheatgrass

25g (1 oz) kale

Throw the wheatgrass and kale into a juicer and juice thoroughly for a minute or two. Add in the spirulina powder and stir vigorously. Pour it into a tall glass and then leave it in the fridge for half an hour. Add some ice and then serve. It might not taste brilliant (though it isn’t bad) but it is an amazing energy booster and has some wonderful health benefits, containing vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin C, chlorophyll, iron, calcium and adding no more than a mere 30 calories to your daily diet.

Alex is a food writer and blogger. He loves writing about beautiful food and healthy living and currently writes for Coupon Croc

Gouty arthritis is a common affliction that many people struggle with today. It is a condition mainly caused by a diet which is filled with food items that have high purine content. Listed below are gout foods to avoid, assuring slim chances of developing the condition.

Foods items which are known to be very rich in purines include yeast, sweetbreads, herring, mussels, smelt and sardines. There are also vegetables that fall into this category. Asparagus, cauliflower and mushrooms are some vegetable sources that have been known to precipitate gout. Those at risk for developing the condition should minimize the consumption of these foodstuffs. Likewise, food sources which are moderately rich in purines include veal, turkey, mutton, grouse, bacon, pheasant, scallops anchovies, kidneys, goose, trout, liver and salmon. These may also have the potential to worsen existing gouty conditions.

When considering gout foods to avoid, caffeine and alcohol should also be taken in moderation. Caffeine present in coffee promotes faster breakdown of proteins and promotes purine deposition. Hence, more caffeine in the system aggravates the condition. Similarly, alcohol increases the production of uric acid and hinders optimal excretion by the renal system. This increases the circulating levels of uric acid.

Experts also believe that acidic foods may also contribute to the development of the disorder. The excretion of Uric acid accelerates if the urine achieves a basic or alkaline condition. Conversely, the urine reaches an acidic state in the presence of more acids. The normal pH of neutral Urine is 7.0. If it reduces to 6.0, the excretion rate of uric acid is significantly lowered. There are various foods that can fall under this category. As they are of a wide variety and extremely common in the average diet, it is better to consume these in moderation as opposed to completely avoiding these food items. Some of the more common items include: Carbonated soft drinks & fizzy drinks, White Pasta, Chicken, Pork, Beef, Brown sugar, Chocolate, White Sugar, Wheat bread, White rice and Processed White vinegar.